1. Field of the Invention
Tubular Member Straightening, Descaling and Hydraulic Testing Apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In oil fields, drill pipe and oil well tubing becomes bent and deformed for a variety of reasons. Oil well tubing when situated in a well is subject to a hostile environment that results in the exterior surface thereof becoming rusted and corroded. Also, as fluid flows through the tubing, foreign material is deposited on the interior thereof, either in a waxy form or as a hard scale. This foreign material in the interior of the tubing, irrespective of its physical characteristics, lessens the transverse area in the interior of the tubing and tends to restrict the flow of fluid therethrough. Whether tubing is serviceable for future use cannot be determined visually after foreign materials are removed from the exterior and interior surfaces thereof, for pitting by corrosion may be so deep that it has practically penetrated the full wall thickness of the tubing. Serviceability of tubing may be determined by hydraulically testing the interior of the tubing at a substantial pressure, from five thousand pounds per square inch on up. Tubing that has cracks or fissures therein or is seriously corroded will normally leak or blow out at such hydraulic pressure and will be discarded for further use in a well.
In the past, the above steps have been performed individually, particularly the hydraulic testing, but not in combination on a single apparatus.
A major object of the present invention is to provide a single apparatus and method of using the same on which a tubular member may be removably disposed to be subjected to a sequence of operations in which the tubular member has foreign material removed both from the exterior and interior thereof, is straightened, is hydraulically tested, and with the threads of the tubular member cleaned of foreign material.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method of using the same for the reconditioning of tubular members, and the segregation of serviceable tubular members from unserviceable ones thereof.
A still further object of the invention is to supply an apparatus and method of using the same in which hard material deposited as a layer in a tubular member, or a cement core in the tubular member is fractured by sequentially transversely deforming sections of the tubular member and then reaming the hard deposited material or cement from the tubular member prior to hydraulically testing the latter, with the transverse deforming sections preferably being carried out to the extent that the tubular member is straightened.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method of using the same to both straighten and remove foreign material from the interior and exterior of a metallic tubular member without raising the temperature of the tubular member to the extent that the physical properties of the metal defining the same will be impaired.